


168 hours

by BlanketOfDeath



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Fluff without Plot, M/M, they are both super clingy, two idiots in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 18:50:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18970978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlanketOfDeath/pseuds/BlanketOfDeath
Summary: Steve and Tony have to spend a week apart from each other. This is how Steve deals with it.





	168 hours

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in an MCU where nothing bad ever happens after the war of New York. Civil War where? Infinity War what? The other one doesn't even exist to me at this point. Simple shameless fluff.  
> Please don't quote me on my math.  
> Hope you enjoy!

Every so often Tony would be away on business. Real business. Not Shield or Avengers. Steve sometimes forgot that still existed, which made those business trips even more unbearable because they always came unexpected. This time Tony would be in Italy and not only for a day or two, but for a whole week. That would be the longest they've been apart from each other since they started going out and Steve didn't know how he would handle it. But as he was the one who kept telling Tony that it's okay for one of them to be away and do their own thing, he wouldn't admit to Tony how he felt about seven days away from him. 168 hours. 

The first day was easy. Nothing out of the ordinary. As if Tony was caught up in one of his many projects. Only that he wasn't in his lab where Steve could actually check up on him. Jarvis kept reminding him of the time in Italy and also Tony's schedule. Knowing what he was up to and where exactly he was, helped Steve to relax.  
The first night was also fine. As if Steve had come back from a late-night mission and Tony was up fiddling on his newest idea in the lab. Repeating that in his head made it easier for Steve to fall asleep.

The second day Steve automatically made Tony coffee that just stood on the counter. Once he realized his mistake, Steve emptied the contents of the cup. His morning routine had gotten the upper hand. In an attempt to distract himself, he went off to training. Out of all the weeks that he could have used slow days, this was the worst week for it to happen. The other Avengers were unavailable enjoying their scarce free time, which only left Jarvis to keep Steve company. And as much as Steve loved the future and the artificial intelligence, it just wasn't the same.  
The second night Steve had trouble falling asleep. 120 more hours. The bed seemed too big for him alone. And even though Tony got them a mattress that wasn't as soft as the usual ones, Steve still found he was sinking into this marshmallow. He crashed on the couch that night.

The third day he woke up to a message from Tony. It was a picture of him in Venice at night. His heart ached as he realized he could have been there with him. Tony had offered it several times. But Steve had refused thinking about possible emergencies. And what would the Avengers do if both Tony and Steve were gone? He replied to the message with a picture of him holding Tony's favorite cup in his hands. It was something.  
The third night he grabbed one of Tony's sweaters and hugged it close, inhaling the familiar scent as he tried to sleep. After a few rounds of tossing and turning he gave up and rested with his back against the headboard. Sleepily he asked Jarvis for the time in Italy and found that it would be early enough for his favorite insomniac to be up and it should be before his usual breakfast time, too. Plus, there was no entry of an early morning meeting in his calendar either. This was his chance!  
The line rang, and he saw a picture he had sneakily taken of Tony as he had napped on top of his late-night work, his lips parted slightly. When the ringing stopped and the line connected, he saw a woman answering. It was Pepper. She greeted him cheerfully and Steve made sure to ask her how she was doing and how everything was going. Despite his own feelings he wouldn't forget to be polite, especially not towards Pepper. She chatted a bit with him and showed Steve Tony who was sitting at a beautiful table full of delicious looking food. Tony was surrounded by a small group of people who all listened to him intently and Steve's heart sank. He could have been there right next to him. He hung up and sighed into Tony's sweater. 96 hours left.

Day four Steve woke up to a cloudy sky and he was secretly grateful for it. In his current mood that he was in he couldn't use the sun shining brightly. At least today people wouldn't look quite as happy as they would have on a sunny day. Steve spent the day at the gym and tried to sweat his feelings away.  
The fourth night he didn't even feel like eating. Had he ever felt this lonely before? Usually he would be happy to find time for himself and Tony, but now it seemed as if he had nothing but time. Steve checked articles on that conference in Italy and saw all shiny and beautiful pictures of a happy and smiling Tony. It broke his heart a little to see him so happy. Didn't he miss Steve as much Steve missed him? Then Steve looked at all the beautiful women who were just Tony's type, just to make things worse for him. He knew Tony was loyal to him, but he also knew that Tony was a big flirt. Would he be able to not look at those women twice or for too long? Steve slammed the laptop shut and hated himself for mistrusting his Tony when he had no real reason to do so.  
He tried to call Tony, not even bothering to ask Jarvis what time it was for him or if he was in a meeting. To his surprise the line connected and he saw Tony, or rather his right cheek and parts of his beard in close-up.  
"Hold it", he said and seemed to be walking somewhere. "There you are", he sighed and smiled at Steve when he found a quiet corner.  
"There you are", Steve smiled back softly and felt his loneliness fade away. "How are you?" He couldn't see Tony's eyes through the dark sunglasses but other than that Tony looked like his usual self.  
"Oh, you know, here and there and everywhere, shaking a million hands, having delicious food, good drinks and great company. Just the usual terrible business routine."  
Steve smiled but he also hated Tony for having such a great time without him. Not that he couldn't have been there with him. He had chosen not to be, stupid as he had been. Who put possible missions over spending quality time in Italy with their boyfriend?  
"Great. Don't let me keep you", Steve smiled. "I'll see you in a few days", 52 hours and 16 minutes.  
"Hey, you okay?" Tony asked a bit concerned, though Steve didn't get to answer right away because two women called Tony’s name in a very flirty way.  
"Yeah, I'm good", Steve said, and the screen went dark as someone, who wasn't Tony, hung up on him. Frustrated as he was, Steve tried to jog his jealousy away. Had he always been this jealous? Ever? He couldn't tell. He stopped in his tracks and double tapped his smartwatch to activate Jarvis.  
"Get me a flight to Tony", he simply stated and went to pack the most important things. Jarvis had organized for a ride to the private jet and for a flight to Europe. Just when Steve was about to board, he got a message stating that Natasha and he would need to go on an urgent mission and that it was about a hostage situation. Steve couldn't believe his luck. For a minute he considered to ignore the message, board the plane and just go see Tony. But he knew he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if anyone got hurt because he wasn't there to help the hostages. He apologized to the Stewardess who had been called to a short notice night flight to Europe which then was cancelled spontaneously. Steve didn't even want to think about how much money this would cost Tony. He felt even more stupid than earlier that night.

The mission helped to get his mind off things for the fifth morning, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep him occupied for longer than a few hours. On their way out of the conference room after their debriefing Natasha eyed him not very subtly.  
"You okay there, Cap?", she asked as they were leaving the conference room.  
"Sure I am. Go home and catch up on your sleep, Nat", he told her as he usually would and went back to the Penthouse. 42 hours, 48 minutes.  
Without taking a shower, Cap lied down on the couch and managed to nap for a few hours. When he woke up he checked the countdown Jarvis kept displaying for him: 39 hours and 23 minutes. It had already been longer than ever before that he had been separated from Tony. _His_ Tony. His stubborn workaholic boyfriend, whose mind worked a thousand miles per minute. The man who would usually forget to eat and Steve had to remind him that coffee didn't count as food replacement. The man he had to regularly pick up from the lab and carry him to their bed because he had fallen asleep there yet again. His moody boyfriend, who hated mornings, breakfast or shaving to look good for anything other than the sole purpose of teasing Steve. His boyfriend, who would roll his eyes before reluctantly dancing with Steve on their date night. His beautiful, older boyfriend, who was shorter than him and who would hate it when Steve even brought it up. His very own Tony, who had a heart of gold and eyes shining so brightly, they could put stars to shame.  
Steve pulled his legs to his chest and sighed heavily. He looked to the dark and cloudy night sky and tried to think of anything that annoyed him about Tony. Sometimes that list seemed endlessly long but now he couldn't think of single thing.  
"So, this is love, huh?", he mumbled to himself and chuckled lightly. It was the worst feeling he had ever experienced, and he would make sure to tell Tony so. 39 hours and 5 minutes.

Steve fixed himself a sandwich, soft music playing in the background when Jarvis announced an incoming call from Pepper. Steve answered the call with a somewhat funny feeling in his stomach. Why would she call him directly?  
"Steve, have you heard of Tony?", she asked out of breath as she was walking. He picked up the phone and tried to catch a glimpse of her face.  
"No, why?"  
"We can't find him. He vanished sometime between breakfast and now. Which means he better be lying dead somewhere or I'll make sure he will. He is missing the only reason why we came here!" Steve frowned concerned and watched as Pepper talked to some security guards. "Honestly, why do I even bother with security when they keep losing him?” She sounded extremely frustrated and fed up, even by her own standards. But it only took her a second to realize what she did to Steve with her call. “I'm sorry, Steve. I just thought maybe he sneaked away to talk to you. He's probably just hiding somewhere and laughing about me. Don't worry, alright? I'll find him." She smiled, a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes or convinced Steve, and hung up on him. Tony was nowhere to be found. What if something actually _did_ happen to him? Like in Afghanistan? No one had seen that coming either. Or at that race. Of course there was no trusting regular security! Tony was way too smart for them. How stupid he had been! He should have been there with him, not only to spend some quality couple time in Italy but also to look out for Tony, to keep him safe! Steve rushed to his room and picked up his duffle bag he had packed to go to Italy and looked for his shield when he heard someone laughing behind him.  
"What? Are you going to rescue me? Jump on a plane, punch a few people to find me and save me from the danger?"  
Steve smiled and set his duffle bag down without turning around. His whole body relaxed immediately and it was easier to breathe again.  
"You know, Pepper might just kill you this time", he said with a grin and turned to face Tony. He reached out to get the sunglasses out of the way and smiled even wider when they revealed dark circles under Tony’s eyes. He looked just as sleepy as Steve.  
"That would be better than trying to sleep another night without you by my side", Tony smiled just as soft and leaned up to kiss Steve.  
"Don't worry about that. No way of that happening _ever again_ ", Steve spoke softly, resting his forehead against Tony's with his eyes closed. His arms were tightly wrapped around Tony and only when he heard Tony chuckle he opened his eyes again.  
"Hm?" he hummed in the back of his throat. Tony picked up Steve's phone that still displayed the countdown, which Steve made blush a little.  
"Five and a half days. 132 hours we managed to be apart from each other. That's our new record", Tony stated in a way that only Tony could.  
"Well, let's not try to break that record anytime soon, shall we?"


End file.
